Short Sunderland to Sandringham conversion - Special Hobby 1/72nd scale

Introduction:

Early civil conversions of the Short Sunderland started even before WW2 was over as the Hythe class, which in turn led to full civil conversions as the Sandringham. The first four Sandringhams surprisingly went to Argentina, to "Compañía Argentina de Aeronavegación Dodero", of transportation entrepreneur Alberto Dodero. Later on two (notably) early conversions that still had the retractable nose turret and a blunt fairing for the tail position were acquired too. More Sandringhams arrived to South America, some also being sold to CAUSA in Uruguay. All these planes had either the Bristol Centaurus or P&W engines, being the latter predominant. They rendered good services, covering mostly local and occasionally international routes, but eventually as the era of the extensive use of the flying boat as transports came to its twilight, they were gradually but inexorably taken off service, being replaced by land planes. The Argentinean Sandringhams changed hands a number of times as successive local airlines bought them or added them to their fleets resulting from mergers. The information available is not straightforward, and as it seems invariably the case you will find inaccuracies, sources contradicting each other, and blatant mistakes and mislabeling. Still, if you apply to it, some degree of clarity can be obtained.

Politics, CIA, and cloak and dagger:

It is sometimes surprising what you may find doing research for your model. In this case the dynamics between Mr. Dodero (as mentioned the Argentinean industrialist that acquired several Sandringhams), Juan Perón (the then president of Argentina) and the CIA. Here are two of the CIA declassified documents underlining the situation.

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R004000340007-7.pdf

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP82-00457R002700580001-2.pdf

More info about the Sandringhams can be found in:

Propliner 94, Spring 2003 “Ladies of the River Plate – Sandringhams”

Air Britain “The Sunderland Heritage” - 2001

Building big models:

In all these decades of modeling I have assembled many small and big subjects. It would be no surprise to any modeler that as a rule of thumb larger models take more time and usually more effort to be completed. As much attracted as I am to these oversized subjects, I try to be realistic, as there is no worse model than the one never built or completed. The larger projects have taken many months of hard labor or even years -on and off- sometimes. From the top of my head I remember the following:

HP42:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/09/hadley-page-hp42-hercules-modified.html

Boeing 377:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/04/boeing-377-modified-academy-172nd-scale.html

Zeppelin Staaken E.40:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/07/zeppelin-staaken-e420-completed.html

The recent I.Ae 38 Naranjero

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2026/02/iae-38-naranjero-baron-rojo-172nd-scale.html

Burnelli RB-1:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/scratch-built-172-remington-burnelli-rb.html

Tupolev TB-1 ANT 4 G-1

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/converted-172-icm-tupolev-tb-3.html

Cant Z-506:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/cant-z-506-172-scale-modified.html

Sikorsky S.43:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2013/05/execuform-sikorsky-s43-172-vacuform.html

Potez 621:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/heller-based-172-scratchbuilding-of.html

Blackburn Kangaroo:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/04/blackburn-kangaroo-completed-modified.html

Rohrbach Roland:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/08/scratchbuilt-rohrbach-roland-iberia.html

Handley Page 0/700:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/02/handley-page-o700-airliner-conversion.html

Sikorsky S.38:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/12/inter-island-airways-kauai-sikorsky-s38.html

Fairchild C-119:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/05/fairchild-c-119-steward-davis-jetpack.html

Farman 223.1:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/12/farman-f2231-f-apuz-istres-damascus.html

 

And some “in progress” -without much actual progress for a while I am afraid:

Savoia Marchetti S.55 (two of them, still on painting stage):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/05/savoia-marchetti-s55x-172nd-delta-2.html

Boeing 80 (half-way):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/07/boeing-80a-1-broplan-172nd-vacuformed.html

Fokker F.32 (same as above):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/07/fokker-f32-mighty-behemoth-modified.html

So…having a few builds midway as noted above gave me pause when I felt tempted to convert a Short Sunderland to the civil variants flown in Argentina and Uruguay in the post-WW2 years. Therefore, not wanting to get tangled in the quagmire of a too laborious conversion that needed large parts fabricated and modified (as an old resin conversion set is now OOP and not available), I decanted on the arrivals to the Lands of the South, the airframes with just minor modifications that still had the retractable nose turret (demilitarized of course) and the hastily faired tail position. These were transitional airframes with a new passenger interior and concurrent different window arrangement. These civil conversions from the Sunderland as explained started as the “Hythe” class, later to become Sandringhams as the mods become more involving. The airframes I am considering are again early conversions looking more like Hythes, although called officially Sandringhams. After a deep dive on kit reviews I decanted for the Special Hobby rendition, discarding the old and now inadequate Airfix kit, and after some thought –and somewhat reluctantly- dismissed the Italeri one for other reasons. Now, these Special Hobby kits have annoying fit issues according to many reviewers (no surprise here, I have built many Special Hobby kits experiencing the same), but they offer the early and late variants with their different engines/props that could allow a small number of Uruguayan and Argentinean registrations to be built (not without quite a lot of work, I hasten to add). Nonetheless, most likely because of the tariffs of president stupid (recently rightfully stricken down by the Supreme Court), these kits have reached at the time of this article discouraging prices. So to take the plunge you need to be somewhat committed to justify such expense, and be mindful that more than the usual amount of work will be required.

The South American registrations that seem to demand fewer changes are Argentinean LV-AHG (Sandringham Mk5), LV-AAS (Mk3, later CAUSA's CX-AKF) and LV-AHH (Mk5 that needs a bit of additional faring-over work). Among the Uruguayan are CX-AKR (Mk5), CX-AKF(Mk3) and CX-AFA (Mk3).

All these planes have the blunt tail (a not elegant fairing after removal of the tail turret) and the front retractable turret still there but of course disarmed and modified. They are the least “aerodynamic” conversions, compared to the more stylized later Sandringham refinements. Still, the ones that I think may require less work…we’ll see.

Why nobody has come up with alternate civil boxings of these planes or at least aftermarket conversion sets is a modeling mystery for me. There were civil Hythe types that would have only required minor changes and a few added parts.

As mentioned, there is quite a bit of work ahead to obtain the civil version. As an example, if you are going for the Mk5 version (let’s say LV-AHG), there are very small details, like you will need to make new exhausts; and big details: you will need to plug a number of windows and create many new ones, besides modifying the front area and the very tail of the fuselage. The kit’s already meticulously detailed interior walls of the fuselage will unfortunately mean nothing to you, as the civil versions were insulated and paneled of course. The dozens upon dozens of military parts will go to the trash can (in that regard actually greatly simplifying your build), together with some of the internal structure, but bear in mind that floors and bulkheads may be repurposed or used as patterns for the civil interior.

Adding to the already prickly task of finding reliable information in references is the fact that there was little or no consistency among the airframes imported to Argentina and Uruguay. Types were different; planes of the same type were different, details like windows and antennas varied even between what was supposed to be similar airframes, and on top of that airlines applied different schemes to their planes, even of the same airline!. As it is very rare to obtain photos of that era of the plane you want from all the angles, you have to extrapolate, do your best, and cross your fingers.

I have seen online a few brave conversions of the old Airfix and Italeri kits into civil types. It’s not an easy job, to say the least. Some of this builds used a resin conversion set now OOP, that included nose, tail tip and one-part engine nacelles (a poor rendition of them, actually). Since SH now offers the P&W engines already in their Mk.V boxing, those are not needed, so the modeler could theoretically produce the new streamlined nose and tail tip on his own (still many other mods are needed, as discussed). As explained my belief is that going for the early airframes may simplify the job, but perhaps carving the needed parts could be easier, and that would open the subject range to include a number of other registrations, being the bonus that for some these later types maybe more visually pleasant (personally I like the clunky and blunt appearance of the early conversion too, but it’s a matter of taste of course).

There is an Eduard set of masks (not including the needed civil windows, of course) and P.E. sets that are not really relevant as again they apply to the military versions.

Be prepared to clear the building area, and even so you may not escape banging the model against all the surrounding objects, including flasks, your optivisor and lamp. It takes some adjustment to manipulate these beasts.

Now, those that frequent this blog know that I like to provide interiors, toilets included when present. Taking into consideration that this model will need a lot of work even before starting the build itself, I am not sure how much of that would be reasonable or practical to recreate (nothing would be seen through those minute widows). I am toying with the idea of detailing a section of the upper deck, as the kit already presents the roof of that area as a separate part. In LV-AHG that was the place of the upper deck seats, a small bar and stairs to the lower deck. Perhaps it would be nice to also detail what may be seen leaving the cabin doors open. Much to mull over…

LV-AHG carried 51 passengers in what we would call high-density configuration*, as it was destined to ply the inner major rivers of Argentina towards the north-east, and to cross the River Plate towards Uruguay.

*The then “high-density” would be today’s business/first class, to such lows the sardine-carrying aviation industry has stooped for the general public.

 The Special Hobby Sunderland MkV kit is massive, and has a very high number of detail parts (these in their vast majority won't be used for the civil conversion, though). Their box art "motto" is weird to say the least. 

A big kit. The majority of those windows will need plugging and made flush with the fuselage skin. Panel lines will need redoing where needed. New windows will need their position asserted and opened, and transparencies for them will need to be fabricated: 

 

Most of that engraved interior detail will need to be covered if visible, as civil conversions were of course insulated/paneled. Other than those in the cockpit, most floors and bulkheads should receive the same treatment:

So what is still undecided as this point is if I will go for what seems like the path of less resistance and model the early conversions with the retractable nose turret and blunt tail, or modify the nose and tail fabricating new parts for the later streamlined look. And depending on that, which particular Argentinean or Uruguayan plane will be actually modeled. For the moment, I am going through all the references I manage to gather and musing over the very few photos I have of the potential subjects. As mentioned, I don't have the OOP resin conversion set that was once in the market (for the Airfix kit), but getting one of those may prove useful if taking that road, even if needs adapting.

For the very lazy civilized modelers among us, there is an almost direct Hythe conversion from the Special Hobby MkI/II/III boxings (Bristol Centaurus engines): VH-AKO! This build will be basically stress-less (Aussies please perk up your kangaroo/wallaby ears!):

https://www.aussieairliners.org/shortfb/vh-ako/vhako.html 

 And images from the New Zealand National Library:

Look, mom! No complicated window changes to worry about!

The initial work is to determine which alternate parts are used for the fuselage shell:

As commented above, that separate section of the upper fuselage may be used as a lid to show the interior, that in some planes consisted as seats and a cocktail bar:

The fit in general I think is acceptable within the parameters of this type of kit. The seams may need work:

The later bottom section corresponding to this mark will surely need some assistance to obtain a god fit, and some re-scribing:

Some reviewers have mentioned no locating devices, but in fact they are there. They will also need a bit of help, as the molding technology renders not very sharp devices:

Because at this point is not yet determined what parts of the interior may be represented as the passenger carrying version, ejector towers that seem in the way of bulkheads and floors are ground down:

The engraving for the turrets on the spine section will need deleting:

As mentioned before many bulkheads and floors will need to be replaced or converted to civil standards (paneled). And not all the structural interior parts of the kit coincide with the civil conversion, plus some may need to be fabricated (upper deck if so one wished?). So the task is to identify what may be useful as it is (for example the bow compartment, cockpit, perhaps the engineer/navigator/radio stations?): 

 There are some drawings representing some of the civil configurations. The planes I am leaning to represent had that upper deck, which is absent in the kit and will need partial modification of the structure (i.e. the area where the ordinance was in the mil version represented in the kit)

Focusing now on the cockpit. First impressions are good. The molding is clean, very little flash, the parts detach easily provided you know what you are doing. Mold lines and the remainder of the gates also clean easily. The sprues have Letters that identify them ("I", "J", etc.) but the parts are not numbered on the sprues, you have to refer to the parts' map in the instructions. Furthermore, parts of the same sub-assembly are spread over multiple sprues, not sure why, may have to do with the capacity to provide multiple versions, but it makes progress slow:

As I go I discard what it´s obviously not needed for a civil plane to have a cleaner view of the sprues:

 All mil. parts discarded:

Some color calls seem inaccurate. It's already obvious that minor mistakes have slipped into the instructions. This is no surprise and has become very common across the board in the industry. Texting while working?  

Watch out for the little pip there, do not cut it thinking it's part of the gate. It's there to provided clearance for the "curtain":

The fit of the step is not good:

Here is the issue, the "trailing edge" of the part is angled, while the fuselage edge against which is supposed to be glued is vertical. Sanding the angle back to vertical a little makes for a much better fit. Tabs must be installed by the modeller to get a more secure fit and properly align both surfaces. While gluing, the panel lines on both parts should coincide:

Getting a sense of the structure. Most parts will either have their structural relief sanded off, have a veneer glued over, or be replaced by styrene counterparts in order to look "civil". Aftermarket seats are being considered:

If represented in the open position, the main access door would need a bulkhead/panel to separate the entrance way from the winch compartment, which I surmise is what it would be done for civil use. In yellow an existing bulkhead, in blue what needs fabricating. It is likely that the perforated floor of the entryway was covered too:

In yellow where the existing bulkhead goes, in green the position of the one needed. It's not clear at this point if those openings were present in the civil version. The front one most likely still was to access the cockpit, but the one to the back I think wasn't (at least in that form) since it would be in the middle of a pax cabin. The structural detail (now the ceiling of the cabins) will have to go:

 The transparencies that close the ordinance exit racks are glued in place. The fit was very good. The civil planes I am looking at used one or two of those portholes. Depending on how much of the interior is represented, some of that internal structure will have to be either removed or covered:

No plane in service in Argentina and Uruguay was exactly the same, which makes things complicated, and forces a decision regarding exactly which airframe would be modeled. One of the aspects of the dissimilitude is the number, shape and position of the windows. So far these are the existing portholes and hatches in the kit that should be deleted:

Of course a number of new oblong windows will have to be opened, these too also varying in number and position. What has become clear is that I will go for the earlier types looking more like the Hythe class, i.e. not elegantly faired in nose and tail.  

Whilst more study goes into the interior arrangement, simpler sub-assemblies are put together:

Two hatches close to the nose that were operational on the Sunderland are not seen in any of the photos I have of potential civil types, thus they are closed with the parts provided in the kit, which again were a good fit. The molding as commented is sharp, but small sinkholes can be spotted in some parts that will require fixing if they will be visible in the final assembly:

The wheels could benefit from a deepening of their locating holes for a firmer grip. The sinkholes are being puttied:

 I was not comfortable with a little plastic pip holding the weight of the whole massive model, so metal axles are being provided:

 

These will provide a sturdier support: 

 Looking a little bit ahead, to fill the space of the ordinance rails simple reverse them. They will need just a smidgen of adjusting and blending (beware that there are two pairs of similar parts, use the ones with the deeper furrows, which is thicker):

A few parts and sub-assemblies are being washed:

This hatch was not used in the civil version so it is filled:

As explained, what would the ceiling of the cabin and entryway areas is being paneled, just in case interior detail is later provided:

Some of the parts being readied for an airbrush session:

Cleaning up bigger parts ensues. Here is where the short-run nature shows a little bit. The surfaces are wonderful, well detailed, realistic. The edges and gates on the other hand are on rough side, and most of the ejection towers need trimming down. TE would benefit from some thinning too (they are ok, just my OCD)

And lest we forget, the instructions tel you to advance a panel line the locating holes for the wing floats and delete the engraved ones:

The tail feathers follow, same here, nice detail, rough edges and gates and intrusive ejector towers. But a good cleaning of all these parts renders them ready to go ahead:

Of the three portholes present on the spine the plane I want to represent had only the forward one, so the other two are filled with styrene discs cut from a proper diameter sprue leftover:

Having learned my lesson (many times over) of checking the fit as much in advance as can be done, it was discovered that the panel lines on the left wing didn't align with the ones on the root. The easy solution was to file just a little the back edges on the root, allowing the wing to move backwards just a hair. As the wings have interlocking tongues, a little rasping of those was also done to provide some wiggle room:

The general fit check of both wings on the fuselage revealed that the seams will need filler, sanding and re-paneling (especially since one of the fuel tanks gets transected by the seam).

Airbrushing some parts:

 G-AGPZ was the first Sandringham delivered to Argentina (christened with the same mane). In this photo we see a reg. that actually belonged to Tiger Moth. Perhaps the photo was retouched:

Dodero and wife in the delivery flight (stills from a Movietone newsreel found online here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0Gntrgz7wU):

Dodero's wife:

 

Colors of the Dodero company logo seen in the B&W still:

 From "Décollage" magazine at Gallica:

I am leaning towards a later Aerolíneas Argentinas plane for the model, though.

More parts are cleaned up. The cowls and floats are assembled. Kit's decal applied to inst. pan.:

Paneling some areas. Detail painting:

I repeat: remove all protruding ejector towers from the flying surfaces and shave a little from inside those trailing edges before committing to gluing. The fit is ok, without being exceptional. The recesses for the fin hinges on the rudder were filled with plastic and had to be filed. Putty will be needed along all leading edges. The left wing halves had to be coerced into panel line alignment quite forcibly. The lower panels of the wigs are very slightly larger in chord, minor sanding will be needed. The surface detail is gorgeous and the work needed overall presents no real challenge for a reasonably experienced modeler. This is of course not a beginners' kit, but if you have chosen this kit you are surely not a beginner (hopefully):

Do not be discouraged when I point to some issues. This is a very attractive kit with extraordinary detail and beautiful surfaces. Is orders of magnitude from let's say a Valom kit. and way above every single short run kit I have ever seen. Yes, it requires some dexterity and skills, and it is not "shake n' bake". but it is in general pretty awesome and I am glad I bought it.  

As explained before the reversed ordinance rails are cut and glued to fill that area on the wing and fuselage. The fit continues to be hit and miss. The cowls are seen with some filler already, while the engine supports on the wing wait their turn as their seam is visibly untidy:

You can see the building strategy, dealing with any minor part or sub-assembly that can be completed beforehand (cockpit, engines, beaching gear, props, etc.), then the internal structure will follow, to help with the location of the windows, then the widows themselves which will be no stroll in the spark, then decide what part (if any) of the pax cabins and lounge to detail, then general assembly. Each major component (tail feathers, wings) is assembled, puttied ans sanded if needed (and it does) and then will be given a coat of primer to deal with any flaws before the general assembly.
 

To put size in perspective... the wing float was larger than a car:

The instructions tell the modeler to move the wing float anchoring points forward. But apparently for what I can see in photos they forgot to all tell the modelers to move the rigging anchoring points in consonance. This is where they go, according to photos, following the same panel lines. These locations and the ones on the floats are drilled at this point:

As commented before, in the earlier versions (like the one which will represented here) of the civil conversions the rear turret was replaced by a blunt faring (not the elegant tail tip of later Sandringhams) and the nose turret was retained, but modified. I am looking at the provided part to see how would be better to proceed. The fit of these sub-assemblies is not very good, but again, nothing that can't be dealt with. It is likely that I will have to fill the front turret with Milliput, erase the framing, vacuform a clear part over it, and mask the two "windows" seen in photos before painting the rest. Regarding the rear turret, perhaps it would be more practical to carve a piece of soft wood to get the desired shape:

Painting continues...

Some of the bulkheads are replaced by parts made of styrene sheet that don't have "equipment" or visible structure. The last bulkhead is raised to meet a new floor as it would have been for the Sandrinham, deleting the ordinance bay:

The interior structure is being assembled. Bulkheads and floor will be painted in different colors. A publication states cream for the walls, blue for the seats. The "carpet" will be painted in a mat blueish grey:

Bear in mind that the plane represented did not belong to the later, more refined Sandringham class, but it was more alike to the Hythe class, therefore the internal distribution does not follow that of the more "aerodynamic" shapes, where for example the winch was moved far forward and the nose area -without the retractable turret and faired- used for luggage and cargo.  

The exhaust positions are drilled, as this plane did not have the ones provided in the kit, but simpler ones:

I decided to make a few changes and include the stair that went to the upper deck, even if at this point I am not sure about how much detail (if any) will be added:

 

The edges of the structure where glue will go are masked. The props' tips are painted. Bulkheads will be later masked to paint the floors and the metal areas: 

 

Meanwhile the windows that need to be deleted are plugged with their respective transparencies. After those are puttied, sanded, and the panel lines restored, the ones that need to be there will be added and masked (after painting the interior, whose walls may need partial covering to obscure the structure):

The window areas that need deletion are masked following panel lines and puttied over:

The basics are there:

A few touch-ups will be needed. Seats will follow:

Dry run of the decks assembly:

The deleting of the windows proceeds:

As it is easier to do it at this stage than with the model already assembled, main parts are given a coat of primer to reveal and fix any blemishes. Same for the already puttied turrets. The latter will need more work to be re-utilized in the civil model:

 The spine section is progress deleting detail not pertinent to the civil version. The detail on the turrests is deleted for their reuse:

Aftermarket resin seats are being prepared. These are rather fair, but not super-clean molds. Each seat has to be detached from its pouring blog and its imperfections removed. They have the seat belts molded, which is bad, as it is much more painful to paint those cleanly than adding them. I wish good 3D-printed manufacturers would make less despicable scheissekopf nazi crap and release high-def sets of different civil seats to complement the almost invariably empty cabins of most kits, being those injected, resin or vacs:

Playing with seating options:

I am so grateful for this hobby, as it gives me the joy of -for a little while- putting my mind off mentally-vacant president stupid and his gang of incompetent, corrupt and pathetic lackeys. Operation Epic Screw-up proceeds as the lives of courageous service men and women are wasted, and the real needs of the American people go unattended, and the country slides further into pettiness and disarray.

Now that anything that needed deletion is dealt with, the fuselage sides are ready for drawing the new windows:

 The fit of the interior in the fuselage is fairly ok regarding not having to shave things too much, but the anchoring is deficient. Small pips molded there that are supposed to help with alignment and gluing in no way secure the floor or bulkheads. Instead of having recesses where the floor and bulkheads could be inserted, there are protruding rails, a very poor engineering choice. I think I will have to resort to gluing tabs to offer better anchoring points. The spine section seen in the photo above is also a poor fit, and the panel lines do not align properly with the surroundings, which will mean puttying and re-scribing around it once glued in place. I had thought of using this part as a removable insert to show the upper deck, but the uneven fit precludes that. As explained somewhere else, this part also lacks locating devices or even tabs to secure it, being a butt fit.

The minuscule locating holes for the beaching gear are actually more like guides for where to further drill. Only two of those locations are indicated on the mold, you will have to measure and drill the top hole (in red) which SH missed:

 

To be continued...